Recording audio

Sometimes, it might be a good idea to share just an audio file with your presentation. Such files are much smaller in size (as compared to a video) and will help students having network issues.

The instructions for recording audio inside a ppt file (embed in the ppt file itself) have been discussed here. Unfortunately, to embed audio in a pdf file you need access to Acrobat Pro.

Below, we give instructions to record audio as a separate file (using Audacity). mooKIT allows you to share an audio file and a corresponding presentation (ppt/pdf), you can even specify the transition points for every slide/page. You can also record using your mobile phone, though you might need an editing software in the end.

Audacity is a free software to record audio, the output is an mp3 file. It works on all three platforms: Linux, Windows and MacOS. It is not very difficult to record your speech using Audacity. Please follow these steps to create an audio lecture.

Step 1: Download Audacity.

  1. Go to the download tab of Audacity website (or search on google).

  2. Download the file for your operating system.

  3. Install the software on your system.

Step 2: Open Audacity and record a file

  1. You can start recording using the red "record button".

  2. You can pause to take rest.

  3. Press the stop button, once you are done.

  4. You can check the file by playing it (green button).

Step 3: Editing the file, optional

  1. You can use the edit menu on the top right.

  2. For example, select a part of the file (shown on the left) and cut/delete it.

  3. There are more options like copy paste a part, silence audio selection (instead of cutting it) etc.


Step 3: Once done, export the file as an mp3

  1. Go to file option, then export, export as mp3.

  2. If you want to edit it later, save it as a audacity project. This project will only open in Audacity. Finally, you will need to export it as an mp3.


Step 4: Finish export

  1. Give a suitable filename.

  2. Give the options for export. We suggest that you use "preset" mode for bitrate and keep quality to be "standard" (for smaller file size).

  3. Click on "save" and then give metadata if required.


Other options: Noise cancellation

  1. If there is noise in the video: from a fan, other computer etc. Audacity has a feature to remove noise even after recording.

  2. Look at this web-page for clear instructions.


There are a lot of online tutorials (Audacity web-page) if you want to go into more details or look at other features.